Here comes de judge

The media loves nothing more than talking about itself, and Rear Window is no different.

ABC insiders reckon retired NSW Supreme Court justice
Jim Spigelman
can start choosing the curtains in the chairman’s office at the national broadcaster. While cabinet still needs to sign off on the appointment, Communications Minister
Stephen Conroy
is likely to announce in the coming weeks that Spigelman will replace
Maurice Newman
.

Hopefully Spigelman can do something about programming – one wonders who decided to bury the side-splitting Michael Winterbottom series The Trip, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, in the middle of summer in the 10pm Wednesday slot? Doesn’t ABC TV boss
Kim Dalton
know a good
Michael Caine
impression when he sees one? If only the ABC had to fight for ratings and advertisers, it might be a little more audience driven.

A senior ABC executive quipped to RW that the public broadcaster would start running ads if The Australian trialled it first.